Place St Pharailde, Ghent 1850

Editor: William Callow's sketch of Place St Pharailde in Ghent has such a ghostly, ephemeral quality. It feels like a memory fading, or a scene glimpsed through fog. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It whispers of a bygone era, doesn't it? I imagine Callow, perched with his sketchbook, drawn to the bustle of the marketplace against the stoic architecture. The buildings seem to sigh with history, while the figures are fleeting, alive. It’s a dance between permanence and transience. What do you make of the light here, or the lack thereof? Editor: It's definitely subdued, adding to the sense of nostalgia. Thanks, that really opened up a new perspective for me. Curator: Precisely! It’s always the subtle things, isn't it?